I Will Not Bow
by jerica128
Summary: Orihime is desperate to save her friends lives, Grimmjow is desperate for more power. Both of their plans involve each other, but sometimes the road to a result is nothing like the blueprint.
1. Storm to Pass

**Kudos if you can guess what song I got the title from ;)**

 **Anyways, just starting with one chapter to see what ya'll think so far. I know it's pretty vague right now but it'll fill in. And the next chapter will be all Grimmjow!**

 **Starting off right after Grimmjow and Ichigo's last fight, where Nnoitra has very rudely interrupted the awesomeness. I'll follow pretty close with the original story-line to start out with, but it'll deviate quickly.**

 **Rated M for language, violence and...stuff**

 **I'll be watching, waiting**  
 **Dreadful, shaking**  
 **Will the storm pass over us today?**  
 **Will lighting strike our sins away?**  
 **Watching**  
 **Waiting**  
 **Falling**  
 **Shaking**  
 **Will the storm pass over us today?**  
 **Or is the future looking grey?**

* * *

 **Storm To Pass**

"STOP IT! CAN'T YOU SEE KUROSAKI-KUN'S HURT?!" Orihime screamed pleadingly.

The Fifth Espada, Nnoitra, glowered over at her and smiled with that spine-chilling Cheshire smile of his, "So what if he's hurt. This is a battle! Inequality is what makes up the monster that is a battle!" he sauntered over to where he had just thrown Ichigo in a bloody heap at his feet, "When you make an enemy, you're at war until one of you draws their final breath, regardless if you are evenly matched or not!"

Ichigo was breathing hard and shaking with pain, Orihime could see it clear as day. This was bad, really bad! Nnoitra was nothing like Ichigo's last fight with Grimmjow. At least that blue haired psychopath had the decency for them to be on equal ground before they killed each other, as disturbed as it might sound. This Espada clearly lacked that trait.

"Did you really think you could have such a showy battle right in the middle of Huecho Mundo and just saunter out without having us gunning for you?" Nnoitra kept on with his gloating, his curved, jester-like shoes sinking negligibly in the sand as he walked closer, "You're more stupid than I thought Shinigami."

 _Please Kurosaki-kun…get up...get up!_ "Bring it on," Ichigo growled through his bleeding lips and they took off again.

Orihime wriggled in Tesra's arms futilly. It was like she was fighting against a brick wall, there was no way she was going to be able to break free of this arrancar's grasp…unless. She glanced up at her Shun Shun Rikka, if she sent Tsubaki…

"Don't even try it," Tesra said in an almost bored tone, his one eye glaring at her, "Your power may be tremendous but the spirits that make up your 'Rikka' are fragile. I could crush them in an instant." Her eyes widened, "The only reason I do not is that they belong to Lord Aizen. But, if you _do_ try to attack, we have been given orders to destroy them."

Orihime clenched her eyes shut in an internal scream of fear and frustration. He was right! Tsubaki had been destroyed once already, she couldn't bear it if he was killed again. What was she going to do?!

The sounds of metal on metal echoed in her ears like a scratched record from some messed up horror movie and at times the clear sound of metal on flesh dug into her like its demented chorus. How could she have let this happen? They had come to save her, her friends had all risked their lives to bring her back home. Ichigo had sworn that he was going to bring everyone home safely and yet he was fading fast against Nnoitra. He had had a hard time against Grimmjow how was he going to…

Her eyes burst open like lightning had struck. Grimmjow! He had been hit by Nnoitra's weapon and left for dead, but he _wasn't_ dead, she could feel it! His reiatsu _was_ very weak but it was still there! It was a ridiculous idea, but it was the best she could come up with on the fly and maybe, just maybe, it would be their saving grace. Grimmjow could be a trump card!

She tried to keep herself relaxed as she moved her eyes around, hoping to find the blue haired Espada without alerting the arrancar holding her. In the short time she had spent in Huecho Mundo she had learned little details about the many arrancar around her, not much, but enough to get a basic idea on what they were like. Nnoitra was a sick man who would most likely be high on a list of sexual offenders if they were in the human world, Ulquiorra was an emotionless, psychological torturer who had an amazing way of getting her emotional, and Grimmjow was a destructive being set out for power, blood, and revenge. It was this last feature that Orihime hoped for. She knew the Sixth Espada would be furious Nnoitra had cut in on his fight with Ichigo and would want nothing more than to destroy his superior for taking his "kill".

She shuddered and suddenly paused in her search when a pang of guilt hit her. Grimmjow was a trump card? She was going to _use_ him to save Ichigo, have him be a pawn to ensure her friend survived. How could she do this to someone?! Had she really dropped this low? It was a thought that almost sent her to tears.

 _No!_ she quickly told herself before she erased her plan completely, _This is what Grimmjow would want! He would want to jump back into the battle and finish what he started! Yeah! He'll get his revenge and Kurosaki-kun and I will be able to..._ her hopeful thoughts went sour again as she clenched her eyebrows and sighed to herself, _but…if Grimmjow_ did _manage to beat Nnoitra, he'd come after Kurosaki-kun all over again…he would…NO!_ she yelled in her head again, _Kurosaki-kun beat Grimmjow once, he can most assuredly beat him again if it came to it! And if Grimmjow_ loses...she deeply wished against it, better Grimmjow win than Nnoitra... _hopefully he'll at least weaken Nnoitra enough so they can escape. This is so wrong! Ergh! Come on Orihime it's our only chance!_

Resolved, but still scared of the outcome and sickened by the idea in the first place, Orihime resumed her search hurriedly, ignoring the fact that she wasn't keeping calm this time.

"What's the matter?" Tesra asked with a slight squeeze around her shoulders.

 _Oh no…_ he hadn't figured out what she was planning already, did he? Surely not, this was a stretch even for them…maybe…well, not really, but it was a stretch for her, they wouldn't expect it…but…she started trembling as she realized she had been stupid and missed a vital detail in her plan. Tesra. The arrancar was watching her like a hawk. How in the world was she going to be able to get her Soten Kisshun to Grimmjow if she couldn't even turn her head without Tesra noticing? _Crap!_

"Oh…nothing…" she said with a trembling voice, lowering her eyes from his distrustful gaze right onto a glimpse of bright blue behind a pile of debris. She hid her relieved shock quickly and glanced elsewhere to hopefully mislead her captor away from her discovery. Well…she found him, that's a start.

"You're not looking for that little arrancar are you? I noticed she disappeared a while ago."

Orihime's eyes shot back open. _NELL! I forgot about Nell!_ _She's got to be okay! She's hiding! She's…_

"Ah...there," Tesra glanced over his shoulder to a tall, shattered wall and his good eye started to glow red, "Gyuun…" a beam came out of it like a laser, shooting over to the wall with a bright, explosive blast.

Orihime screamed desperately for Nell until she realized that in the milliseconds in between Tesra's distraction, she had suddenly found her chance. She glanced back to where Grimmjow lay and whispered as quickly as she could, hoping that her Rikka's glow would skip by Tesra without notice. Seemingly knowing of her desperation for stealth, Ayame and Shuno went off fast, curving in the opposite direction of Tesra's gaze and low to the ground, covering themselves in the dust kicked up by Ichigo and Nnoitra's battle. With one last glace over at Grimmjow, she saw her Soten Kisshun wrap around him and start rejecting his wounds.

She concentrated hard. She knew Grimmjow was in really bad shape, worse off than Ichigo in truth, at least her friend could move, but she honestly wasn't sure just how bad. Without any visual ques, she was flying blind. Could she manage to heal him enough to help before Ichigo gave out? Would he help? Why did they have to find Nell? Would they find out what she was doing with Grimmjow?! The situation just kept getting more and more desperate.

In those last seconds before even more chaos broke out, she could have sworn she saw the wounded Espada's bewildered, electric-blue eyes staring at her.

* * *

 **Welp, there ya go! How was it? Good start? Let me know!**

 **Cheers!**

 **jerica**

 **PS For those of you who are currently reading my other stories, I plan on updating many of them soon. I be in a writing mood ;) ;)**


	2. All Nightmare Long

**You know what really sucks? Having your chapter exactly how you want it then getting up for a bottle of water and having your laptop fall off the table, wiping it completely! ERGH!**

 **Yeah, it was partially my fault cuz I didn't save the sucker once the entire time I was writing, but still!**

 **In any case, since I had to do this chapter over, it's not quite how I like it (considering I couldn't remember half of what I wrote) but it still goes through the same plan I had for it soooo...meh.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Luck. Runs. Out.**  
 **Crawl from the wreckage one more time**  
 **Horrific memory twists the mind**  
 **Dark, rutted, cold and hard to turn**  
 **Path of destruction, feel it burn**  
 **Still life**  
 **Incarnation**  
 **Still life**  
 **Infamy**

 **Hallucination**  
 **Heresy**  
 **Still you run, what's to come?**  
 **What's to be?**

 **'Cause we hunt you down without mercy**  
 **Hunt you down all nightmare long**  
 **Feel us breathe upon your face**  
 **Feel us shift, every move we trace**  
 **Hunt you down without mercy**  
 **Hunt you down all nightmare long**  
 **Luck. Runs. Out.**

* * *

 **All Nightmare Long**

 _Damn…damn…damndamndamndamn!_ Grimmjow cursed to himself as he lay in the blood soaked sand. He was pissed. More than pissed, he was livid. He had been forgotten, left for dead. _Well too bad you bastards, I'm not dyin' today!_ He growled, trying to get up. Nothing worked. His arms and legs wouldn't move no matter how hard he strained himself and his lungs felt like they were the size of grapes. The only things that seemed to be keeping him conscious now were the slow beat of his heart thrusting his blood out in spurts from the gashes on his shoulder and chest and the blazing fury he felt for the people that put him there.

 _Damn you Nnoitra!_ He cursed to himself again with an angry rumble from his throat, vibrating the nasty glob of congealing blood around his shoulder like a disgusting mass of snot.

Kurosaki had been right where he wanted him and then that Nnoitra had shoved in and taken the Shinigami all for himself. The greasy bastard had no sense of fair-play barging into their fight like that! It was like slitting a lion's throat after it had already had its legs cut off and claiming it as a great victory. It was sick!

 _That piece of trash is gonna die…slowly…then I'll finish what I started with Kurosaki…_ he managed a glance at the now battling duo and scowled... _that is if that orange haired brat can survive that long!_

Even with the speed at which they were going, it was easy to tell who had the upper hand. Though Ichigo was managing to block some of Nnoitra's attacks, he was honestly getting his ass handed to him. Meanwhile, the Espada was just laughing at the already injured boy with that creepy Cheshire grin of his.

Grimmjow cursed the Fifth Espada again, _don't you dare kill him Nnoitra! Kurosaki is mine! After what he said, that arrogant imp is gonna get what he deserves from_ me! _Not you, not anyone!_

Ichigo's annoying speech echoed in his ears again as his pride flamed…

" _If you despise me that much then I'll fight you any time you want…but," he gave him one of those stupid, righteous glares, "Sometimes you just have to admit defeat once in a while."_

Defeat. Defeat? Defeat was a weak premise he erased from his vocabulary. He would _never_ admit defeat to that kid. He would never admit defeat to anyone who talked down to him like they were better than he was. He was a king! Nobody talked to him like that and lived!

Driven by his fury to go show that Shinigami a thing or two about respect for his superiors, Grimmjow tried to get up again, but, as with earlier, he met nothing more than negligible breaths, paralyzed limbs, and an even worse strain to his pride.

His body still wouldn't cooperate, and now the blue sky above him was starting to warp into different colors and darken. _Damnit! Don't pass out…don't pass out! You can still take him! You can still…_ he growled again and sighed with a hissing frown from the fiery pain he couldn't really feel, _Face it Grimmjow, that kid kicked your ass. He broke through your Desgarron, your ultimate technique, like it was nothing. Hell, the second that woman opened her mouth it was ov…_ his eyes widened. The woman!That was it! This was all _her_ fault! If she hadn't called out to him with her whining, pleading words then Kurosaki would be the one laying in a bloody mess on the ground, not him…

No, that wasn't it! No mere words or pleas could ever have that much effect on someone. No mere boost in resolve would be enough to cause such a dramatic change in strength. She did something to the Shinigami when she had attracted his attention, increased his power somehow, Grimmjow was sure of it. She had given Kurosaki an unfair advantage in their fight, turning the tables in the boy's favor after he had been nice enough to let her heal him before he kicked his ass. That bitch!

Still on the verge of passing out, he gathered up what little energy he had and craned his head around, trying to find the girl. There was no way he'd allow them to be on an uneven playing field next time. If she was going to give Kurosaki a power boost in battle then she was damned well going to tell him how she did it, even if he had to beat it out of her!

He followed Nnoitra and Ichigo's movements, hoping that they would somehow lead his blurry eyes to his target. Nnoitra kicked the Shinigami into a pillar which sent off a high blast of wind, just enough in fact to whip the burnt auburn color of the girl's hair like a flag between Grimmjow and the battling duo.

 _There you are!_

One of his large grins spread unevenly across his face as he focused on her reiatsu with as much concentration as he could come up with, picking out the little nuances she had that separated her from the other reiatsu around her. He might not be able to grab her now, but he would be sure he had her reiatsu memorized so he could track her down when he was able to move. He was a predator after all and hunting prey always came easy to him.

Once her reiatsu was engrained to memory, he smirked again. He had her! There was no escape for her now. He would steal her away the first chance he got, force her to show him what she had done to Kurosaki, and then end what they had…wait…

The longer he stared at her, the more confused he became. She was just standing there, trembling in Tesra's arms like a helpless child while Ichigo was getting manhandled by Nnoitra. What was she doing? Why wasn't she giving him that power boost she gave him earlier? It was obviously effective so why wasn't she using it? Was it a one time thing?

Well shit! If Kurosaki ended up getting slaughtered by Nnoitra then this entire little plan of his was a waste of time. How was he going to kill that kid if he went off and got himself killed by somebody else! _Come on woman!_ He yelled at her with his mind, _surely you can't just use that thing once, hurry up and…what the hell?!_

Grimmjow's eyes almost popped out of his skull. She had just looked right at him! Maybe it was his brain muffing up stuff as he stumbled in and out of consciousness, but he was almost sure he had seen her eyes on him. And what was stranger was what he _saw_ in those eyes.

It was like she had suddenly found something vital, something she needed more than anything. What the hell was going on?! Why did she need him? What was he going to do? It wasn't like he was of much use right now.

His eyesight suddenly took a downturn mid-thought, everything going black for a few sparse seconds. _Nonononono…can't pass out!_ He couldn't keep his eyes open. _Stop it!_ They didn't want to listen to him.

There was some sort of sound like a muffled explosion then everything was instantly covered in a yellow light.

"What the…?" the words came out before he even realized he could speak. The pulse of blood from his shoulder was changing, weakening, his lungs were already getting more air than they had been mere seconds ago, and details of the clouds through the yellow barrier were clearing at an astounding speed. He didn't have to think much to put one and one together. This was the girl's Rikka! Her Soten Kis-thing. She was healing him! Why?

He winced hard as feeling came back to the wounds that covered his body, but was regretfully grateful when the pain started to recede not long after. _Damn, now I'm gonna owe her again!_ He rolled his eyes to himself. He hated owing people. Luckily though, he was good at exploiting debts for himself and he quickly figured out how to use it to his advantage. She healed him, he ripped Nnoitra to tiny bits, her Shinigami lived…for now. Win, win.

"Are you…Nell?"

Nnoitra's voice cut off his train of thought. The spoon-head was standing over a tiny, green haired arrancar at his feet, glowering at the miserable child in an almost entertained way.

Nell? Grimmjow recognized that name. Where had he heard...oh shit, this screwed things up! Neliel used to be one of the Espada, number three from what little he remembered of her. Although, you couldn't really tell she used to be ranked third with the way she was getting flung around like nothing. Maybe this wasn't that bad after all.

Just as Grimmjow was about to brush her off as a slight hitch, Kurosaki flung himself between her and Nnoitra's giant blade. Really?! The kid really _did_ want to get himself killed before he got his hands on him again didn't he?

Grimmjow looked down at his fingers, clenching them slowly as his strength returned. "Come on…woman," he mumbled through bared teeth, "Hurry up…with your…damned…healing! What's…taking…so long?"

BOOM!

A blast of pale purple smoke exploded in the air, enveloping Neliel and blasting Grimmjow with a mass of strange reiatsu along with a good amount of rubble. It wouldn't have been that bad had it not blocked his view on what was happening, and it quickly got worse when the woman's healing shield vanished.

 _What the hell woman! You weren't done!_ He yelled at her in his head as he clumsily leaned up on his elbows. He was out of the blue for now, but he had nowhere near the strength to do much for himself in ways of fighting. A sonido didn't feel like it was out of his range though, maybe he could still get part of his plan done after all.

He spotted the girl again, still held tight in Tesra's arms. Nnoitra was getting his ass whipped by a now transformed Neliel, he'd worry about that little detail later, and Ichigo was laying far off to their right, well out of the way. They were all distracted…good.

Grimmjow smirked, _Well, if that Neliel bitch kills Nnoitra then at least Kurosaki'll still be alive for me later. I'll have to kill her for taking Nnoitra away from me, but…first things first…_

He found Pantera near his head and crouched flat against the ground on his spare hand and feet, aiming his blade directly at Tesra's free shoulder. The attack probably wouldn't kill the arrancar, unfortunately, but it would at least stun him long enough for Grimmjow to grab the girl and sonido out. Good thing his sonido was one of the fastest out of the Espada or this plan might never work.

With one last aim of his Zanpakuto, he smiled maniacally and flashed out of sight.


	3. Bombshell

**I want to thank all of you for your lovely favs, follows, and comments! They really mean the world!**

 **And off we go...**

 **Now, look who's coming**  
 **Yeah, look who's back**  
 **Quick drop the bombshell straight to the track**  
 **The 21st century killing machine**  
 **Burnt on the inside,**  
 **A five-headed team**

 **Now I'm not the same because you're not the same,**  
 **Well you're not the same because I'm not the same,**  
 **We're not the same, this could never be the same**  
 **and we just wanna survive...**

 **Get up**  
 **Get up**  
 **Get up**  
 **Drop the Bombshell**

* * *

 **Bombshell**

Chaos. Orihime's world was crumbling into chaos.

Nell was being thrown and kicked around like a doll by Nnoitra and Ichigo, forcing his broken body up off the ground, kept running in between the thin Fifth Espada and the tiny former Espada using himself as a shield. Orihime knew she had no chance of helping them herself, but she hoped her insane plan with the blue haired Espada under her Soten Kisshun could somehow still work. Regrettably, even that hope was fading fast.

The power of her Soten Kisshun was fluttering in the back of her mind weakly and no amount of concentration could do anything to make their progress speed up. She shut her eyes tight, the moisture of frustrated tears wetting her eyelashes. This just wasn't working! She had never been this far from her Rikka when she was healing someone, she couldn't…

"GEYAHHHHHHHH!"

Ichigo's scream ripped her eyes open and she froze.

Nnoitra was smiling like the madman he was, his hands wrapped around Ichigo's arm, twisting and crunching the bones in his wrist like a bag of potato chips. Nell was also screaming now, not in pain, but in fear, repeating Ichigo's name over and over again with ever increasing volume.

All Orihime could do was stare and shake in Tesra's arms as each voice reached her, ripping and shredding her already flayed spirit to pieces.

 _Kurosaki-kun…Kurosaki-kun…Kurosaki-kun…Kuro…_

"ITSYGOOOOOO!"

Nell's final scream of Ichigo's name sent Orihime's world into a blast of colors. Pale purple smoke exploded into the sky, the thrust of energy kicking up another cloud of tan, Orihime's auburn hair whipped into her eyes as they mixed with the clouds, Ichigo's orange hair flashed through breaks in the tan, and a wave of green stood out like an oasis in a desert.

All of these colors and senses were thrown at Orihime so fast she didn't even realize she had lost her concentration until she felt the closeness of Ayame and Shuno upon her brow.

 _Nononononono! I wasn't done! I had barely started!_ She clenched her eyes shut in panic until a strange reiatsu came upon her through the dissipating purple cloud.

"N…Nell-chan?" she said to herself, almost inaudibly, as she stared at what had become of their tiny friend. She wasn't the only one who stared, for Nnoitra, Tesra, and even Ichigo were stunned into silence, if only for a moment.

Nnoitra was the first to break out his shock, almost…no definitely, snarling at the now grown female arrancar before him. "So you've returned to your old form again, Neliel? You…" he was cut off as she sonidoed behind him, grabbed Ichigo, and flashed back out, placing Ichigo well out of harm's way.

Orihime couldn't help but breathe an internal sigh of relief at the sight of her friend away from the fight, and her hope rose even higher when Nell took off at Nnoitra and easily sliced through his chest in one swift move.

After her first attack, their movements became a blur, much like what happened during Ichigo's fight with Grimmjow. Orihime hadn't had much luck following what they were doing then, but, unlike that first fight, this one seemed entirely one sided. Nell had Nnoitra on the ropes and she didn't even look like she was trying! It was amaz…

The shock of a blade ripping through the body behind her and scraping across the flesh of her shoulder sent her eyes rushing off of Nell and to a place that seemed to be going in slow motion.

The blood spraying out of Tesra's mouth felt like watching morbid clouds inch by through the sky, the smile on Grimmjow's face as he creeped around the impaled arrancar was more terrifying than ever with the mix of his, Ichigo, and now Tesra's blood splattered all over it, and the slow, squishy sound of his zanpakuto as it pulled back through flesh was one of the worst things Orihime had ever heard.

"G…Grimm…" she didn't get to finish as Grimmjow grabbed her by the waist, tossed her over his shoulder, and sonidoed out, getting them hundreds of yards away before Tesra had even hit the ground.

The blue haired Espada never left a foot on the ground for more than a second before taking off again, taking them farther away from the fight between Nell and Nnoitra, farther and farther away from what Orihime had wanted. _What just…?! How? Why?_ She thought, as the figures behind them kept shrinking before her eyes. _What are you doing, Grimmjow?! We're going the wrong way!_

She was just about to turn to try and stop him when she was forcefully thrown off his shoulder to the ground, landing hard in front of her 'one-last-hope' turned kidnapper. Instantly rolling to her side to yell at him for his unnecessary roughness, she froze mid-breath as she saw him convulsing in front of her, head barely off the ground as he made an ever growing spot of red underneath him. That's why she had been thrown. He had pushed himself way too hard and lost his footing.

Loosing track of her anger instantly, she reached out for him, "Grimmjow…y…you shouldn't have pushed yourself like that. You're…"

"Fuck your… _cough_ …sympathy, woman!... _coughcough…_ Heal!" the Espada snarled at her through bloody teeth.

She didn't argue and nodded quickly, "Soten Kisshun, I reject!"

Her hands were up against the shield now, sensing every detail of his injuries exactly as she had wanted earlier, though, now that she was here, it seemed the reasoning behind healing him was entirely different.

"Um…Grimmjow?" he growled annoyingly when she spoke, clearly not wanting conversation, but she ignored his rebuttal, "Why did you…um…why did you take me?"

He snorted again, "You ask as if it's not obvious, idiot!"

Of course it was obvious…but, "So…are we going back? After I heal you?" she said softly, hoping that her guess on Grimmjow's need for revenge on Nnoitra was still accurate. Nell seemed powerful in her new form, but Orihime didn't want to take any chances.

"Hell no! You're coming with me until you show me what you did to Kurosaki during our fight."

"W…what?" that's not what she expected at all, "I didn't…"

"Don't lie to me, woman! I know you did something to that brat back there! Besides, Nnoitra's gettin' exactly what he deserves right now," he smiled one of those terrifying smiles that always freaked her out and dropped his voice to a creepy level, "Yeah I wanna kill the bastard, but the humiliation he's having handed to him right now is so sweet I can taste it. Sure, I'll wipe that green haired bitch off the face of the earth later for takin' Nnoitra from me, but right now I wanna savor the moment."

Was _this_ the man she had been trying to save? Was _this_ the man who she thought could've saved _them_? And what was this about her doing something to Ichigo?

BOOM!

The force from an explosion sent a shockwave over the pair, its light and power clearly the evidence of a cero.

"Damnit," Grimmjow muttered under his teeth.

Orihime recoiled from the blast, "What happened? Did…"

"Shut up," he was glaring over at where they had run from; his eyes narrowed and frustrated, the smile on his face turned down into a scowl.

Going against her healing instincts, Orihime dropped her shield. She could tell that the four people they had left were still alive by the presence of their reiatsu, but she knew the Espada in front of her was far more skilled at pinpointing what was actually going on between them. Something had happened to sour his mood and it was definitely not a good thing.

"What the hell?!" He yelled once the barrier went down, "You weren't done, woman!"

She crossed her arms, trying to get a glare on her face but fearing that her worry was turning it into some sort of weird, constipated grimace, "What's happening?"

"I don't have to tell you a damned thing!" he was up in a crouch now, fingers curled out to his sides like claws.

"You will if you…" both froze and turned to the fight as another blast of reiatsu hit their senses. Orihime had sensed this change in reiatsu before, back when Grimmjow had fought Ichigo…Resurreccion! This wasn't just anyone's Resurreccion either, it was Nell's. Had their fight taken a turn for the worse? Was she forced to resort to Resurreccion to beat him? What if Nnoitra released his? She turned to Grimmjow to try and see answers on his face, but all she saw was the same frustrated look as before. What was going on?! What was he thinking?!

Frustration wasn't far from the truth. More like annoyance. Grimmjow could sense Neliel's growth in power when she released her zanpakuto, but the most annoying thing he felt was the sheer instability of it. She had overestimated her opponent like a dumbass and now she was driving herself into a hole that would most likely…POP!

He growled deep in his throat as Neliel's reiatsu dropped instantly to its tiny size, her massive power gone with a puff of purple smoke, "Shit."

"What happened?!" the girl yelled behind him again, apparently sensing to some degree what he has just felt, he ignored her.

With Neliel out of the picture, Kurosaki was a prime target again. Nnoitra would end Neliel first then turn back to the Shinigami, taking away his chance at the kid. _Damndamnda…_ a hand posing for a slap was caught without effort beside his face. He gripped it hard, causing a wince from its owner and turned his narrow eyes to her.

"And what was that for, woman?" he squeezed her hand again and she winced harder, grabbing her arm to try and pull it away.

"P…please," she cried through gritted teeth, "Please take me back. They're all going to...I can't bear it! I'll do whatever you want, just please take me back! Please!"

"They're not gonna die!"

She was weeping fully now, "You don't know that! Please!"

This girl was starting to piss him off. Maybe he should've just killed her and dealt with Kurosaki without any extra power additions. It wasn't that bad of a plan. Humans _were_ fragile little things, it'd be easy. Unfortunately, he was a glutton for power and this girl knew something about power he didn't, so killing her wasn't an option. What _was_ an option was what was happening throughout the dome of Hueco Mundo.

He could sense Gargantas opening around them, four from what he could tell, and each one brought out huge reiatsu. The type was easy to distinguish…Shinigami, and not just any Shinigami, but captain level. The thought about opponents of this caliber both angered and excited Grimmjow. He had never had the joy of killing a Shinigami captain before and he reveled at the thought of ripping a whole through one, yet their timing couldn't have been worse on that part. One was near Kurosaki, so he had that good knowledge about the kid living till their next encounter, but…one was near Kurosaki. He wasn't an idiot. The woman still hadn't finished healing him completely and the whole inside of Hueco Mundo was turning into one giant cluster-fuck, he might not know when to stop a fight but he sure knew when to pick one. No, he'll end this on his terms, where he wanted and when he wanted. As long as Kurosaki didn't die, he had all the time in the world.

The girl was still pleading with him, but he ignored her easily, grabbed her waist, and threw her over his shoulder like he had before.

"Are we going back?" she said, her voice almost hopeful.

"Fat chance," Grimmjow said with a smirk as he launched them straight up in the air, rushing right at the false roof.

A simple cero was all it took to send them out into the forever night of the Las Noches sky.

* * *

 **From this point on it's going to deviate from the original story. Stuff will still kind of flow with the original, but at a much different speed and with obvious alterations. (IE we've got a good amount of time before the Winter War goes full swing ;) )**

 **Anywho, hope there was much enjoyment and can't wait to read what ya'll think!**

 **PS Hope the switch between Orihime and Grimmjow's POV was smooth enough, I tried to have an obvious flow between them.**

 **Cheers,**

 **jerica**


	4. Bad Moon Rising

**First off I must give big thanks to those who have faved, followed, and commented so far! Only three chapters up and its already got eight followers! WOW! Did not expect that!**

 **Anywho, we're about to get into some fun stuff now...Woot!**

 **I see the bad moon arising.**

 **I see trouble on the way.**

 **I see earthquakes and lightnin'.**

 **I see bad times today.**

 **Don't go around tonight,**

 **Well, it's bound to take your life,**

 **There's a bad moon on the rise.**

* * *

 **Bad Moon Rising**

Orihime was tired of crying. It seemed like all she was doing nowadays and she hated it. She thought she'd gone numb to tears while in Hueco Mundo, but, after everything that had just happened with Ichigo and Nell, she clearly wasn't.

She cried silently the entire time Grimmjow carried her, and only stopped when her eyes went dry and her energy to express her sorrow was spent. When they finally reached a tiny, hillside cave, she was numb.

After checking to see if there were any uninvited residents, which was slim to none considering the space was barely larger than Orihime's bathroom in her apartment, Grimmjow coldly tossed her on the ground like a sack of potatoes and left her there to go stand guard at the entrance. She didn't react to the pain of hitting the rocky ground and merely rolled to a seat and wrapped her arms around her legs, only turning her eyes to look at the wicked Sixth Espada who stole her away from everything she cared about.

He had leaned attentively against the rock with a forearm, body poised to run if necessary and head flicking around as he watched and listened around them. If she wasn't so terrified of him she would have thought it reminded her of an excited kitten at a window, however, with him being him, it seemed more like a rabid panther trying to turn everything into meat, not really a surprise after one saw his Resurreccion.

Apart from the obvious similarities in his actions to a creature of the feline genus, he looked quite human, a very tired human actually, minus the hole through his stomach. The obvious signs of fatigue were everywhere, from the way his shoulders moved as he took in short breaths, to the drops of sweat reflecting off his skin from the light of the moon outside. He was exhausted.

They must be a long way from Hueco Mundo for him to be as out of breath as he was. She wasn't surprised. With how long she had been crying and how often Grimmjow sonidoed, she suspected at least thirty or more miles lay between them and everyone that still remained in the fortress now. Anyone would be exhausted after a run like that, even an Espada, at least that's what she assumed at first.

After about five minutes of watching him, concern started to peek its head around Orihime's numb wall.

His breathing had never slowed down and he was still sweating like he was in the middle of a marathon. Not looking away from his vigil outside, he sniffed shortly and made a move with the back of his hand like he was wiping something away. When he returned it to his side, a smudge of red was streaked across the skin. The small glimpse of blood made her concern cease its questioning look and run out in the open. He was bleeding…again.

"Grimm…" she started.

"Shut up,"

"But…"

"You'll speak when I want you to. Now shut up!" he glared over his shoulder before turning back just as quickly.

Though the voice in the back of her head told her he deserved every ounce of pain he was having, the rest of her urged her to erase it. Pain was her Achilles heel, and if someone was in pain, she had to fix it, no matter who they were.

She sighed back into her blank face and raised her hands, "Soten Kisshun, I reject," she whispered mutely, sending her Rikka around the Espada in front of her.

Grimmjow flinched at the change around him, "What are you doing, woman?"

She looked down at her knees knowing that his petrifying blue eyes were on her, "I never finished healing you before we left. You pushed yourself too hard again and…"

"No I didn't!"

She continued as if he hadn't spoken, "and now the internal injuries that didn't fully heal have opened back up."

He growled, "Well it's your own damn fault! If you hadn't stopped healing me earlier, then…"

"I know," her eyes furrowed, "I know it's my fault. I'm sorry."

He was oddly silent for a few seconds, "Damn right you're sorry," his voice had venom in it but the volume failed to back it up.

Puzzled, she looked back up at him. He had turned his eyes to the entrance again but had leaned against the wall and stuffed his hands into his pockets, head hunched down in a less attentive way. Was that supposed to be sympathy? It wasn't really a, "don't worry about it," but it sounded like it. No. Maybe he just sounded sympathetic because he was tired. That _was_ the more logical answer.

Putting curiosity in the back of her mind, she took his relaxed stature as a que to try and raise her mood with conversation. Talking about nothing in particular always cheered her up and she was in dire need of something positive. However, even with her need for a drastic change to lighter subject, she couldn't keep herself from returning to the most recent events.

"Can you still sense them?" she asked.

"Ya know, _you_ may fail to remember this, but I never gave you permission to talk,"

"I was talking just a sec…"

"SHUT! UP!"

She recoiled and dropped her head back down like a scolded child, a movement she was regrettably getting used to around this Espada. It remained downturned like this for a few minutes until her Soten Kisshun reached the end of their healing. She was just about to expel them when Grimmjow's bass broke the silence.

"Barely," he said, unusually quiet for him.

All she could manage was a squeaky, "Huh?"

"You heard me," he snarled, voice instantly back to normal, then rolled his eyes and continued, "We're pretty far from 'em now so their reiatsu is weak, and nobody's set off to look for us yet, so fat chance we'll be seeing anything other than the normal trash for a good while."

The surprise of him answering her earlier question wasn't near as great as the way her heart lit up like a rocket when she heard that her friends were still alive. Nevertheless, the need for control seemed like a big deal around the short tempered Espada, so she decided to better not set him off with a crazy shift in mood. Instead, she sat her head on her knees and sighed, "Good."

"'Good'? Just ' _good_ '?!" she jumped at his change in tone and flashed her eyes up, both confused and frightened at the look he was giving her, "You whine and beg for me to take you to them like it's the end of the world, and now I tell you they're alive and all you gotta say is 'good'!? What the fucking hell?!"

 _What?_ _Does he want me to leap with joy?_ She thought as she stared. _Does he want me to dance around like I just won a lifetime supply of bean paste ice-cream? I don't get it._ _First he orders me to be quiet, and then he gets mad when I do. Why does making him happy have to be so complicated?!_

Frustrated at her obvious lack of knowledge about arrancar behavior, she sighed and dropped her healing shield, returning Ayame and Shuno to her hairpin.

As expected, Grimmjow growled in protest, "Hey! Who said you…"

"You're completely healed," she said stiffly, annoyance slowly taking concern's place, "No need for them now."

When she didn't get an immediate response, she glanced back up at him.

Though it was harder to see now that the light from her Soten Kisshun was gone, she could have sworn he was pouting. It was actually rather funny seeing that expression on a guy so large and terrifying, and she felt a weird need to hold back a giggle. So much for being annoyed at him.

"So," he finally grumbled, uninterested, "You gonna heal yourself or are you just gonna sit there and bleed?"

She caught his narrowed, aggressive eyes and what humor she had instantly vanished, those eyes got her every time. "M…myself?" she stuttered.

He raised an eyebrow, "I nicked your shoulder when I stuck that loser, Tesra. If your damned sleeves weren't so big I'd've had a better target."

Orihime looked over to the shoulder in question. True to his word, the fabric was scrunched and sagging with absorbed, dried blood. Funny, she remembered getting cut when Grimmjow had attacked, yet she never remembered feeling the pain from it. Maybe she had been too emotional at the time to notice.

Unable to see the cut underneath the heap of fabric, she elected to try and take off her jacket and hope it wasn't stuck to the wound too bad.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Grimmjow asked as she unzipped the short jacket, slid one arm out, and started messing with the other, only to find the fabric stuck a good deal more to skin than she thought.

She winced as she reached a piece that was stuck to the injury, "I'm…ow…trying to…owow…see how bad…owowow…it is."

"And why don't you just heal yourself like I told you to, stupid?"

She stopped mid-pull, "Well if it's not that bad then all I have to do is wra…AAAAAHHHH!"

The only warning she got was an annoyed growl before he stomped over, took a handful of jacket, and tore it off, earning a scream of pain as the scab fused to the cloth was ripped away. Her hand rushed to stop the now seeping wound on her bare shoulder, the moisture around her eyes telling her that there were definitely tears left to cry. Nevertheless, even though she now knew she still had the ability to cry, she wouldn't give him that pleasure. Instead, she gave him as good a glare as she could through a bit lip.

He simply glared down his nose at her and tossed her ruined jacket to the side, "I don't give a royal fuck if it's bad or not! Heal!"

Unable to keep eye contact yet again, she broke it off and gripped her shoulder tighter. "Soten Kisshun, I reject," she said, sending Ayame and Shuno in a small shield around her shoulder.

After her ire had dissipated and the healing was done, she dismissed her Rikka and turned back to Grimmjow. "Um…Grimmjow," she said softly.

His lip curled, "What is it now?"

She pulled her legs under her, fiddling with her fingers, "Why did you…um…" she met his ice-colored eyes hesitantly, "Why did you care…that I was hurt?"

His eyes widened ever so slightly before he snarled, crossed his arms, and looked away from her with that suspected pout of his, "Ha, I don't give a shit that you're hurt! I just can't stand anything filthy and pathetic in my presence. That cut made you look more pitiful than you already are, and ya just looked extra stupid bleeding when you have that healing ability of yours."

It was incredibly strange and unexpected, but she suddenly felt herself smiling. Grimmjow didn't like it.

His growl really _did_ sound panther-like now, "What…the hell…are you smiling at?"

Her smile widened unconsciously again. _Why am I smiling?!_ She screamed to herself. _He looks about ready to rip my arms off! Don't blow up. Don't blow up. Don't blow up._

"Oh, nothing," she said with a wave and a little laugh, then gave an innocent, stretched out yawn, "Well, it's been a really long and eventful day for both of us, so I think I'll turn in for the night, even though it's kind of always night here hehehe. Oh, and you better get some sleep to or you'll get baggies under your eyes!"

That got him. Her drastic change into "normal" Orihime threw him for a loop, leaving him completely dumbfounded and unable to respond. Acting quickly before he could snap out of it, she rolled up her torn jacket and curled up facing the back wall.

"Good night, Grimmjow," she made sure to keep her bubbly tone even though her heart was beating ten million miles an hour.

After receiving no response for a good while, her panicked trembling started to slow and she tried to relax. _Maybe I should've done that sooner,_ she thought with a small smile, then frowned and closed her eyes, _Please don't have that come back to bite me too bad._

All Grimmjow could do was stare and gape like a flabbergasted idiot while fury rose under his skin…

* * *

 **If you can't tell, I ended it with a flash to the next chapter ;) ;)**

 **Till next,**

 **jerica**

 **FYI - in comment to Orihime healing herself. A lot of people think she can't, but if you look at her when Menoly and Loli beat her up, then when Grimmjow takes her to heal Ichigo, she's completely healed. Only possibility...she healed herself...TADA!**


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